Workplaces, Ahoy !

There are places, and then there are some ! -- (Anon)

This is a rant about two extreme workplaces. One, where you can only be a 'worker', and the other where 'work' is the last thing people are bothered or worried about.

I. East-Asian rigmarole culture (read culture-shock)

"People in east-asia work for very long hours but don't actually do anything."












The work culture expects you to report for duty as soon as the sun comes up, regardless of whether its raining cats-and-dogs outside, snowfall or an earthquake! And once you are inside the premises, you are held ransom to the excruciatingly complicated attendance rules, whereby you are allowed to be a human being for only a stipulated span of time out of the total work hours for the day; The time-span can be anything from an hour to zero minutes . Your 'being-a-human time' can be utilised for any number of things you like to do: having your lunch, step out to do a daily chore, visit to a doctor etc.

Oh, and by the way, concepts like team outings,luncheons, recreational activities in office are alien concepts in this world - an excuse for slackers !

II. Western-extremely-friendly culture

"I love deadlines, I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by ...." --(Anon)



These are the places who go to any length to provide a healthy and pleasant 'work' environment - so much so that a babu's job in South Block (New Delhi) looks hard in comparison to it. Gosh! I envy the people 'working' there and getting paid for keeping-up the workplace healthy and pleasant. Everyone is as effervescent as the happy-go-lucky populi of Yashraj/KJo cult movies. Concepts like 'deadlines', 'competition' from rivals in your business are words in the dictionary of fools. Most probably these are corporations with a monopolistic hold on their business domain. People travel abroad, sport BlackBerrys, 'work' from home/car/pool - all in the Queen's name.

R.I.P you mere mortals slugging it out in competition-ridden companies :)


I'm in a fix - which one is better or worse than the other :)